00:00There's no place like home. There's no place like home.
00:06Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down art picks for the biggest box office
00:12feels that turns into the most beloved crowd pleasers.
00:15You just drank half and half baby.
00:17Freeze! Vegan police! Vegan police!
00:21Number 10, Heather's.
00:23My sacks and some Bach.
00:26How very.
00:29At a time when John Hughes' films defined what it meant to be a teenager, Veronica Sawyer
00:34found herself in a very different kind of movie, one with edgy jokes, a twisted romance, and
00:39yes, even murder.
00:40I knew this stuff would be too intense for her.
00:43Intense. Grow up. You think I'll drink it just because you call me chicken?
00:55Heather's upended every genre convention imaginable and did it all with a smile.
01:00But sadly, the reason it's beloved to this day is also why it failed to connect with audiences.
01:05It was too ahead of its time, and viewers weren't sure what to make of a genre-bending black comedy
01:10masquerading as a teen drama.
01:12Thankfully, a popular run on home video turned Heather's into the generational hit we all know and love.
01:18How very.
01:19I love to that teenager.
01:21That's it. We're breaking up.
01:25Number 9, Blade Runner.
01:27No one can say 1982's Blade Runner lack ambition, but that may have been part of the problem.
01:40While it's a cultural staple today, initial audiences were lukewarm on its heady themes and slow pace.
01:46As a result, it couldn't turn a decent opening weekend into a satisfying box office run.
01:51Ironically enough, the same fate would befall its long-awaited successor in 2017.
01:57The Blade Runner franchise might just be cursed or something.
02:08Then again, some critics blame the original film's performance on its competitive release date.
02:13Its June debut put it up against other sci-fi films like Star Trek II, E.T., and The Thing.
02:18Speaking of...
02:19It's too bad she won't live. But then again, who does?
02:27Number 8, The Thing.
02:41In the middle of his rise to the king of horror, a new scary movie from John Carpenter was actually
02:46seen as a gamble with general audiences. In this case, it's a gamble that didn't pay off. For starters,
02:52there's the aforementioned release date, which dropped The Thing in a summer full of other sci-fi flicks.
03:07To make matters worse, reveals weren't exactly glowing, with most contemporary critics finding The
03:13Thing overly gross, cynical, and bleak. Not exactly the summer escapism viewers were looking for.
03:19At the very least, home video came to rescue yet again, with modern audiences reevaluating The Thing
03:25as a landmark for the horror genre.
03:27If you're worried about me. If we've got any surprises for each other,
03:34I don't think we're in much shape to do anything about it.
03:37Number 7, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.
03:40Hey, you've got it! You've got the last golden ticket! The kids found the last golden ticket!
03:46Open it up, sonny, sonny!
03:48Who doesn't want to visit a world of chocolate, wonder, and pure imagination? The answer is,
03:53apparently kids in the early 70s. Despite highly positive reactions and Gene Wilder doing what
03:59Gene Wilder does best, Wonka's Chocolate Factory didn't fill as many theater seats as expected.
04:04Come with me and you'll be in a world of pure imagination.
04:12To be fair, it wasn't a complete bomb, and audiences were quick to realize their mistake.
04:17It didn't take long for Willy Wonka to become an enduring favorite on TV and VHS. Like a good
04:22chocolate bar, people just kept coming back for more. A remake, musical, and prequel later,
04:27it's safe to say Wonka's decade-spanning legacy is as sweet as it comes.
04:32You lose! Good day, sir! You're a crook.
04:37Number six, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.
04:40Is Scott here?
04:42Uh, you know what? He just left.
04:45Squaring up against seven evil exes is hardly a walk in the park, but Scott was so busy fighting
04:53for Ramona's love, he forgot about the biggest threat of all, bad box office. Now, in all honesty,
04:59this one kind of makes sense. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is an unhinged comedic masterpiece.
05:05However, we don't even know how to begin describing it. Clearly, the marketing team had
05:10a similar issue, and the movie fell flat on its face at the multiplex.
05:14That's impossible.
05:16Okay, my bad.
05:17Your bad is saying my bad.
05:19Word of mouth is a powerful thing, though. Bolstered by strong reviews and incredible cast,
05:24and one of the largest cult following in modern media, Scott Pilgrim is now a
05:28household name in comedy.
05:30I was just a little bit curious.
05:32Well, honey, I'm a little bit curious.
05:45Number five, The Iron Giant.
05:47Pick me up, okay?
05:48If you want proof that there's no fairness in Hollywood, just look at The Iron Giant. This movie
06:04is brilliant. People know it now, and people knew it then, so how on earth did it lose so much money
06:10in theaters? Distributor Warner Bros. has to levy some of the blame. They were unsure about the broad
06:14appeal of animation, and it showed in the lackluster advertising. Others point the finger at The Iron
06:19Giant's very adult tone, which may have scared off families.
06:32Either way, the fact of the matter is the film barely earned back half of its $50 million budget
06:45in theaters. The Iron Giant deserves better.
06:48You are who you choose to be.
06:53Superman.
06:54Number four, The Shawshank Redemption.
06:59You strike me as a particularly icy and remorseless man, Mr. Dufresne.
07:04It chills my blood just to look at you.
07:08By the power vested in me by the state of Maine,
07:11I hereby order you to serve two life sentences back to back.
07:16One for each of your victims.
07:18Just like Annie Dufresne's never found justice, neither this movie. At least, not at first.
07:23Even with seven Academy Award nominations to its name, The Shawshank Redemption still failed to make a
07:28profit during its first theatrical run. The confusing title, lack of female characters,
07:32and stiff competition from other adult dramas were definitely factors, but none of that should
07:37have mattered when reviews were as good as they were for Shawshank Redemption.
07:40If there's any solace here, it's that the film proved moderately more successful on re-release,
07:57and even became the most rented VHS of 1995. It's not quite boxed off its gold, but we'll take it.
08:03Five hundred yards. That's the length of five football fields. Just shy of half a mile.
08:14Number three. It's a wonderful life.
08:16Just remember this, Mr. Potter, that this rabble you're talking about,
08:20they do most of the working and paying and living and dying in this community.
08:24Well, is it too much to have them work and pay and live and die in a couple of decent rooms and a bath?
08:28This Christmas classic sure didn't start out as a holiday miracle.
08:32As strange as it is to believe, It's a Wonderful Life drew extremely mixed reactions from critics at
08:37the time. The lukewarm response paired all too well with the meager box office returns,
08:41nearly dooming the film to obscurity. But then a real Christmas miracle happened.
08:46It's a Wonderful Life became a fan favorite on television and soon turned into a full-on holiday
08:51staple. Strange, isn't it? Each man's life touches so many other lives.
08:57There wasn't a single Christmas in the 80s you wouldn't find this movie airing on hundreds of
09:01channels. The film's success has endured for generations now with no sign of the slant slowing
09:07down anytime soon.
09:08Zootoot pedals! Zootoot! There they are! Birds! What do you know about them? Merry Christmas!
09:16Well, Merry Christmas! Merry!
09:19It's a sad fact of Hollywood that sometimes the best films don't get their due. Still,
09:36in the case of Citizen Kane, its early feelings had nothing to do with its marketing, release date,
09:41or quality. Actually, it may have been too good.
09:44Only you want love on your own terms. It's something to be played your way according to your rules.
09:52Due to the film's frank portrayal of media tycoons, newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst had a
09:57total vendetta against it. He tried suing the studio, orchestrating smear campaigns, and even outright
10:03bribery. Hearst failed to stop the movie's release, but he did successfully bury its debut amid a mountain of
10:10controversy. Sadly for him, Citizen Kane endured, with fans and critics later discovering the film in
10:15all its glory.
10:16Please, Susan.
10:21From now on, everything will be exactly the way you want it to be. Not the way I think you want it, but your way.
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10:46Number one, the Wizard of Oz.
10:48Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore.
10:52As it turns out, going over the rainbow is quite the expensive feat. Dorothy's Technicolor adventures
10:59needed to connect big time if the studio wanted to see any of the color green. Unfortunately,
11:05even though The Wizard of Oz did reasonably well for itself, it wasn't enough to offset the high
11:10production cost. However, it later became a phenomenon on the small screen. So much so,
11:15that the Library of Congress cites it as the most watched movie in film history.
11:19All those royalties didn't just make The Wizard of Oz an unlikely financial success,
11:31it also turned it into one of the most beloved properties ever made.
11:35There's no place like home, indeed.
11:50Which of these surprised you the most? Let us know in the comments down below.
11:54And don't forget to like and subscribe for more WatchMojo videos.
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